2
Talk of my arranged marriage had flooded the kingdom and had washed over the markets below and other homes around the land we ruled over. His word is law and it could not be changed.
Tears fell from my cheek and landed on the leaves of white roses. I sat on the ground watching the flowers bloom before my eyes. I could feel my mother coming. I heard her gentle steps as she walked out into the garden to join me. She slowly sat beside me.
"I know you not happy about this, my little elfing. You are young and have so much to learn and experience, but you know you will experience so much more." she said. I sniffled some and looked at her finally. Her skin sparkled beneath the rays of the suns.
"But I don't want to go to Bethmoora. I want to stay here with you and father and Gai and Gaius." I said and she nodded.
"Gaia we are not sending you away. We are merely combining our houses so no threat can harm us." she said gently placing her hand on my shoulder, but it was not enough to console me. I looked back at the flowers watching as two little fairies began to fly around the flowers.
"I had a dream last night. I dreamed I was a spirit moving about the kingdom and no one could see me. Is that what I am to become, an empty spirit?" I asked and she finally wrapped her arms around me pulling me into her.
"No. You are going to be powerful. You are touched by Oceana herself. I cannot wait to see the woman you will become and standing behind you will be your armies who will fight for you and die for you." she said. Her motherly scent washed over me. It was embedded into her clothes and brought me such comfort, such protection that I melted into her touch.
"What if the prince doesn't even like me?" I asked now thinking about the silver haired elf prince I am to marry.
"Then he will forever be a fool." she said lovingly. I finally wrapped my arms around her. After a while, Mother left to care for Gai and I was moving through the halls quietly needing a moment to think. In the distance however, I could hear grunting, light yet hard. Curious, I picked up speed until I was at one of the numerous training grounds outside the castle. My eyes widened as I saw Gaius and Nuada clashing swords together. My eyes widened as I watched their small forms swiping at each other with ferocity. Gaius jumped and with both feet kicked the young prince in the chest sending him flying to the ground.
"Gaius!" I shouted as I lifted my gown to pick up speed. I watched as Nuada used his hands to push him off the ground and he ran toward my brother spinning and swiping his sword at him. My eyes widened in fear as the two looked to be fighting to kill each other. I had never seen elf boys fight with such aggression. They were both very good for being so young. The two clang their swords at each other before spinning simultaneously and each of their swords were at the others necks and I covered my face in fear not able to look.
There was no sound now and I peeked through my fingers to see their blades touching their throats, but no finishing blow was given. I looked around to see no one was around to stop them and that worried me more. Before I could think, I was running between the two and pushing their swords away.
"Gaia!" my brother snapped.
"What were you thinking you could have been hurt!" I yelled at Gaius as I wrapped my arms around his neck crying more.
"It's alright, he couldn't hurt me if he tried." he said lowly, his hands gently stroking my head.
"If your sister is done fighting your battles we can continue." Nuada challenged. I glanced back at the elf noticing bruises on his face before looking at Gaius and shaking my head.
"Father will be upset if you ruin your royal gown any more than you have." I replied swiftly not wanting to see him fighting anymore. Gaius looked at me with soft eyes before smiling.
"Alright. I won't fight anymore and because I am a generous prince, I will let you claim "victory" of this match." he said facing Nuada who frowned heavily.
"I don't need you belittling me. Raise your sword and I will continue to beat you." he said pointing his sword at us, of which Gaius moved me behind him.
"What is going on out here! Nuada why are you threatening our hosts!" King Balor boomed as he moved onto the training grounds. Nuada looked at his father with wide eyes.
"He started it!" he said with a mild whine before King Balor snapped his fingers.
"Shame on you. Princess Gaia is to be your queen and you never raise your sword to your queen! Inside now. It's time to prepare for tonight's celebration." he said and Nuada just shot us a glare before placing his sword in his sheath and moving to follow after his father. My brother and I watched, his hand behind his back to hold my hand.
"Maybe when he grows up and goes to battle, he will be killed." Gaius replied lowly. I looked over his shoulder at the young elf who just glanced back shooting us a glare. I don't think I liked Prince Nuada very much. We held hands as we entered the halls. Immediately, a servant was approaching, bowing at us both glancing at our hands together.
"Prince Gaius, your father requests you in his chambers." she said. My brother groaned before nodded and looking at me.
"Where do you go?" he asked. I motioned toward my room.
"Mother most likely has a gown ready for me. I should see what it is." I said. He nodded.
"I will try and see you before the celebration." he said, and I nodded before watching as he left. I smiled happy he was not too badly injured from his fight with Nuada. I began to walk down the halls making my way up the spiraling stairs that led to my room. Once I reached the top, I passed other servants who were wiping down statues in the hallway. They smiled at me and bowed and I returned the gesture. As I walked, I thought about the guests who were in my kingdom.
It would appear that I would be seeing quite a lot of them in the future. How was I supposed to come out happy in the end of all of this? I mean what was I supposed to do with the prince when he came to my kingdom, or when I came to his? We didn't have much in common it seemed.
Mild sniffling could be heard and it snapped me from my thoughts. I looked around noticing one the empty chambers. I moved inside looking around. It was a small room with fresh blankets on the bed. I heard hiccupping and I looked around the room until my eyes came onto the corner ground. I saw silver hair curled up in a ball and I finally realized it was Nuala. She was crying and I leaned over some and saw she looked hurt. There were bruises all over her face.
"Princess Nuala?" I asked worried. She looked up at me and her eyes widened on me.
"Gaia." she replied gently, and I moved closer to her. Her nose was mildly swollen and her lip busted. Her eyes were swelling with tears.
"Are you okay, what's happened to you? Did someone hurt you? I'll call my father." I said until she reached out for my dress.
"No you mustn't!" she cried out. I looked down at her unsure of what to do.
"What happened?" I asked sinking to my knees before her. She sniffled and looked down.
"Nuada…" she said and I looked at her with fear on my face.
"He beat you up?" I asked, shocked my mind reeling with questions on why a sibling would do this. She shook her head.
"No. He got beat up." she told. I looked her over with confusion not understanding her words.
"I don't understand." I told her. She wiped her face away with the sleeve of her dress.
"Nuada was fighting someone… his wounds are my wounds. My wounds are his." she said. I looked her over more intensely. "It's the bond we share. If one of us gets hurt, the other also experiencing the pain—the bruises." I was stunned by her words. I never realized a bond could be so strong.
"It's like you have one soul." I replied and she nodded.
"I'll be fine. I've learned to accept it. Nuada is usually very careful not trying to get hurt because of me. Whoever he was fighting must have been very strong." she explained. I looked away trying not to feel a sense of pride in my brother for being so talented.
"Is there something I can do?" I asked almost awkwardly. Nuala shook her head and began to get stand. I merely kept my hands out in case she fell.
"No. The wounds will heal quickly, they always do." she said almost as if withdrawn. I nodded taking a step back from her now. If she was okay I guess there was no need to bother her further.
"Okay. As long as you are alright." I replied and turned to move back toward her door.
"Princess Gaia… thank you for your concern." she said. I turned and looked at her. Her voice seemed genuine as was her smile.
"You're not like your brother." I responded instead. She nodded.
"Nuada is stubborn. But he has a heart." she replied. I looked her over some not sure if that was good or not. I looked back at her and nodded.
"I will see you at tonight's celebration." I replied and she nodded and I parted from her. When the two moons were out, the kingdom was lit with numerous torches and music brought the land of Hamonoptra to life it seemed.
Noblemen and their families joined us in the dining room and the dance hall. Soldiers stood with their backs to the wall watching quietly. It was like they were statues. Father and Mother sat on their thrones smiling and watching the festivity. Some men would approach father to laugh and chat. I danced with the other children to the vibrant music that brought my soul to life. My dress was short, with black lace around my thighs to help me move better. My hair was braided back and twirled into a bun with a silver pin in the middle.
Gaius was with some of the young boys who would soon be following him into battle one day. He laughed and smiled at them. The Bethmoora elves were the only ones who stuck out in the group of dark elves. King Balor was eating at a large table speaking with a few older elves. Nuala sat close beside him while Nuada just crossed his arms looking at us with disapproval. Maybe his rejection was a good thing. Maybe he wouldn't want to marry me either. Chanting was laced into the music and my body moved on its own accord. I danced and leaped around the floor swinging my head down then up as if I was water dancing on the surface of man for the first time.
More and more eyes were on me as I danced and I twirled letting my body lean back and the tips of my toes reach the ceiling. Music brought me to life and my spirit showed. More people joined in brought to life by the music and as I looked at everyone's impressed faces, I could see Nuada glancing somewhere. He was watching some Harmonoptra boys show off their dagger balancing. One elf balanced three blades on the ends of his fingers. I could tell he wanted to join. He wanted to be a part of the fun, to fit in, but the fear in his eyes also told me he was afraid of rejection. He looked away at the ground looking angrily discouraged so much that he turned and just moved toward the hall opposite of the room.
I paused in my dancing for a moment and watched him leave. I wondered where he was going. I then looked over at my parents. My mother was watching me with a gentle and light stare. I knew she wanted me to do something nice for the Bethmoora elves. Now I looked down and sighed softly before looking up and moving down the hall to follow after the prince. I entered the hallway and saw him just pacing back and forth muttering something angrily. I approached him slowly.
"Hey…" I said and he looked at me immediately frowning.
"What are you doing here, princess? Your family will start to miss you." he noted looking down at the ground. I approached keeping a cautious distance. He looked at my feet noticing this. He then scoffed and looked at me. "I'm not going to try and use my sword on you if that's what you're thinking." I stiffened and looked down remembering how he pointed his sword right at me.
"I wasn't thinking that." I lied. He smirked.
"Yeah right." he said.
"Why didn't you try and make friends with the other elf boys?" I asked instead. His eyes lightened for a second before hardening and looking away.
"Why would I want to make friends with some lowly dark elves?" he asked snobbishly. I frowned some at his words.
"You're right. They probably wouldn't want to be friends with some idiotic silver elf." I said before turning and moving back to the celebration.
"You're just different." he blurted. I paused and turned and looked at him. A long lock of hair fell over his face. He looked vulnerable. "And I knew they'd think I was different." I faced him completely now.
"What makes us so different?" I asked. He opened his arms out as he shrugged.
"Everything. We look different, our fighting styles are different, our knowledge is different. We're just different." he said. I looked down for a moment in thought of his words. He wasn't wrong. I looked up at him once more.
"So tell your father that. Maybe we won't have to marry after all." I said. He shook his head and crossed his arms once more.
"I tried. He said all those things can be adapted to." he said. I sneered, annoyed that excuse didn't work. I looked up at his waist seeing his sword and shrugged some.
"Our fighting styles may be different, but it seems when pointed at each other we are evenly matched." I said. Nuada looked at me, golden eyes seeming confused.
"Evenly matched? If you had allowed my fight to continue then we would have found out who is obviously superior." he said. I tensed some at his words before shaking my head.
"But then your sister would have continued to get hurt." I noted. He winced and looked around me as if looking for his sister.
"You saw her?" he asked. I nodded.
"I checked on her." I replied. He looked at me confused.
"Why would you do that? Why would you care?" he asked. I blinked heavily confused by his question.
"Because it is the right thing to do when someone is hurt." I said. He leaned back some and looked away.
"Yeah well when we get married, don't think I'll come checking on you or anything." he said defiantly. I sneered once more.
"Don't worry I won't." I replied. "So why are you sneaking off anyways? Where are you going?" Now he removed his sword.
"To train more so when I fight your brother again, I will win." he stated. Now I found myself scoffing.
"My brother will never fall to the likes of you." I said and he smirked.
"Or maybe you'll fall to me." he said with a crouch. My eyes suddenly widened as I realized he was crouching to sprint toward me. What was he doing? Whatever it was I didn't like it. I yelped as I turned and began to take off toward the lights of the dining room. Nuada is fast, he runs on the wall to my right and jumps off it and lands in front of me, his sword out. My eyes widened as I yelled and nearly fell to the ground and turned and took off down the hall. I was yelling while he was laughing in pure amusement as he ran after me.
"Mother! Father!" I called out as I ran down the hall. All the guards were stationed where the crowds were so there were none in the hall. I looked back to see Nuada closing in on me and in one jerk move, I turned left and continued down the hall. The fear was increasing inside me and I felt complete panic over take me. That's when I knew I couldn't outrun him. I suddenly turned with the intention of slapping him silly, however my sudden stop made his eyes stop and before I knew it he was slammed right into me. We fell to the ground and tumbled a bit. My face felt on fire from being hit and I opened my eyes to see the ceiling above us, the tiles sparkling. Slowly, I sat up my nose feeling numb and then on fire and before I could comprehend, there was blood pouring down my nose.
I began to huff and pant as I began to cry hard, the halls filling with my cries. I touched my nose and my fingers were staining with blood.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Nuada says in panic as he's crawling to me. He reaches out to me but I just hit his hands away and keep crying for my parents. My dress was ruined, my face hurt, everything was ruined!
I don't even notice he reaches into his small pocket and pulls out something white and before I know it, he's shoved his hand at my nose. I was tensed for a second but before I could push him away again, the pain was suddenly gone. I was still now hiccupping a bit wondering what just happened. I blinked the tears away and looked at him to see he had pushed something soft into my face. He just watched my face for a second and when he removed his hand, the pain was completely gone, the blood too. I looked at my hands. They were still dried with blood, but other than that I felt fine.
"Wha- what did you do?" I asked looking at his hand as he held up a cloth.
"It's a cloth mixed with healing magic. I had a witch make it for me for Nuala. It's her back up if she ever loses the first one. I heal faster than her and if I'm hurt she can rub this on her cuts and bruises and she will heal." he explained. I blinked rapidly looking at him and then the cloth. He raised it to me and I leaned back from him. "I'm sorry for hurting you. I was just trying to scare you. Take it." I looked at his hand slowly reaching out to take the cloth. But once I did I started frowning.
"I don't want a husband who is just going to try and scare me!" I blurted and got up. "My dress is ruined because of you." He followed my actions and stood up.
"I'm sorry." he said. I didn't believe him.
"Just go back to the party before you're missed." I said and left him in the hallway.